h in 1862. "It was difficult not to quarrel with him," she says of
this popular favorite; "he was susceptible and violent; it was
impossible not to be reconciled with him quickly. He was faithful and
magnanimous. He forgave you admirably for wrongs you had never done him,
and it was as good and real as though the pardon had been actual and
well-founded, so strong was his imagination, so complete his good
faith."

The assistance of Madame Dorval, added to the strength of the Comedie
Francaise company, did not, however, save from failure Madame Sand's
first drama, _Cosima_, produced, as will be remembered, in 1840. She
allowed nearly a decade to elapse before again seriously competing for
theatrical honors, by a second effort in a different style, and more
satisfactory in its results.

This, a dramatic adaptation by herself of her novel, _Francois le
Champi_, was produced at the Odeon in the winter of 1849. Generally
speaking, to make a good play out of a good novel, the playwright must
begin by murdering the novel; and here, as in all George Sand's dramatic
versions of her romances, we seem to miss the best part of the original.
However, the curious simplicity of the piece, the rustic scenes and
personages, here faithfully copied from reality, unlike the conventional
village and villager of opera comique, and the pleasing sentiment that
runs through the tale, were found refreshing by audiences upon whom the
sensational incidents and harrowing emotions of their modern drama were
already beginning to pall. The result was a little stage triumph for
Madame Sand. It helped to draw to her pastoral tales the attention they
deserved, but had not instantly won in all quarters. Theophile Gautier
writes playfully of this piece: "The success of _Francois le Champi_ has
given all our vaudeville writers an appetite for rusticity. Only let
this go on a little, and we shall be inundated by what has humorously
been called the 'ruro-drama.' Morvan hats and Berrichon head-dresses
will invade the scenes, and no language be spoken but in dialect."

Madame Sand was naturally encouraged to repeat the experiment. This was
done in _Claudie_ (1851) and _Le Pressoir_ (1853), ruro-dramas both, and
most favorably received. The first-named has a simple and pathetic
story, and, as usual with Madame Sand's plays, it was strengthened at
its first production by the support of some of the best acting talent in
Paris--Fechter, then a rising _jeune premie